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Arcadia
By Tom Stoppard
Court Theatre
Directed by Charles Newell
May 3 – June 3, 2007
Study Guide
Dramaturgy Assistant Jack Tamburri
Summary
Characters
Thomasina Coverly, aged thirteen, later sixteen. Thomasina is infatuated with Lord
Byron, and possibly in love with Septimus as well.
Septimus Hodge, her tutor, aged twenty-two, later twenty-five. Septimus is in love with
Lady Croom, but he has had an affair with Mrs. Chater.
Jellaby, a butler, middle-aged.
Ezra Chater, a poet, aged thirty-one.
Richard Noakes, a landscape architect, middle-aged.
Lady Croom, middle thirties. Lady Croom carries on affairs with Lord Byron and
Septimus.
Capt. Brice, RN, middle thirties. Lady Croom’s brother, he is in love with Mrs. Chater.
Hannah Jarvis, an author, late thirties.
Chloe Coverly, aged eighteen. Chloe is in love with Bernard.
Bernard Nightingale, a don, late thirties. Bernard sleeps with Chloe, but is more
interested in Hannah.
Valentine Coverly, aged twenty-five to thirty. Chloe and Gus’s elder brother. A student
of mathematics at Oxford. Valentine is in love with Hannah.
Gus Coverly, aged fifteen. Chloe and Valentine’s younger brother. Gus does not speak.
He is in love with Hannah.
Augustus Coverly, aged fifteen. Thomasina’s brother, played by the same actor as Gus.
Act I, Scene 1--1809
Thomasina, Septimus, Jellaby, Chater, Noakes, Lady Croom, Brice
The setting is a room facing the garden of the Sidley Park estate. Thomasina
Coverly, the 13-year-old daughter of Earl and Lady Croom is at her lesson with her livein tutor, Septimus Hodge. Thomasina asks Septimus to define the term “carnal embrace,”
so that she may understand some gossip she has heard--Septimus and Mrs. Chater (a
guest at Sidley Park, with her husband Ezra) were seen together in a gazebo on the
grounds by Noakes, a landscape architect hired by Lady Croom to redesign the grounds.
Noakes has told Mr. Chater, who sends a threatening note to Septimus via the butler,
Jellaby. Septimus and Thomasina are interrupted by Chater, who confronts Septimus
about his activity with Mrs. Chater. Noakes the landscaper enters, followed by Lady
Croom and her brother, Captain Brice (who is also engaged in an affair with Mrs.
Chater). Noakes shows Lady Croom before-and-after drawings of his ideas, including
the replacement of the gazebo with a hermitage. Septimus and Thomasina are left alone,
and she draws a picture of a hermit into Noakes’s landscape.
Scene 2—Present Day
Hannah, Chloe, Bernard, Valentine, Gus
Hannah Jarvis, a literary historian, is at Sidley Park doing research for a book on
the Sidley Hermit. Chloe brings in Bernard Nightingale, another scholar, who has come
to Sidley Park for his own research. Chloe is busy helping set the house for the annual
costume party which the Coverlys host for the town. Bernard learns that Hannah is in the
house and asks Chloe not to reveal his name, as he gave Hannah’s last book—a
biography of poet Caroline Lamb—a scathing review. Valentine enters and Gus appears
briefly. Hannah comes in from the garden and she and Bernard (whom she does not
recognize) talk about their research. Bernard is interested in Ezra Chater, whom he
believes was murdered in a duel by Lord Byron, the legendary nineteenth century poet.
Hannah explains her interest in the Sidley Hermit, whom she believes is the perfect
metaphor for the transition in English history from the neo-Classical rationalism of the
Enlightenment to the emotional excess of the Romantic period. Chloe enters and
inadvertently reveals Bernard’s identity to Hannah. She grudgingly agrees to help him.
Gus enters and gives Hannah an apple.
Scene 3--1809
Thomasina, Septimus, Jellaby, Chater, Brice, Lady Croom
Thomasina is working on her Latin. Septimus has received another threat from
Ezra Chater. It is revealed that Lord Byron is Septimus’s high school friend and is
staying at Sidley Park as well. Septimus turns Thomasina’s attention back to her
translation, which is actually Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra which Septimus has
put in Latin. When Septimus reveals his joke (that Thomasina has been putting
Shakespeare back into English) she leaves in a rage. Brice and Chater enter, intent on
forcing Septimus into a duel over Mrs. Chater’s honor. Septimus talks Chater down by
apologizing. Lady Croom enters to tell Septimus that Lord Byron, with whom she is in
love, intends to leave Sidley Park. When she exits, Septimus agrees to duel with both
Chater and Brice the following morning.
Scene 4—Present day
Hannah, Valentine, Bernard, Gus
Hannah has discovered Thomasina’s math book, wherein the girl has been
working on her “rabbit equation.” Valentine explains iterated algorithms to Hannah, but
insists that Thomasina could not have understood the importance of what she was doing
150 years before mathematicians caught up with her. It turns out that Valentine is doing
similar work using the game books (accounts of hunting parties) to study the population
of grouse on the estate. Bernard enters with evidence from the library which he believes
proves his own theory. Valentine confirms that Byron was at Sidley Park in 1809, as
recorded in the game books he’s studying. Bernard leaves to look in the game books
while Valentine and Hannah talk about Thomasina’s work.
Act II, Scene 5—Present day
Bernard, Valentine, Chloe, Hannah
Bernard is presenting his paper on Byron to Chloe and Valentine. Hannah enters
with a letter confirming the existence of the Sidley Hermit. Bernard goes through his
argument, with which Hannah disagrees. Valentine argues with Bernard as well, who
drives him from the room with insults. Chloe follows Val out. Bernard criticizes
Hannah’s book on Caroline Lamb and invites her to accompany him to London for a
romantic tryst. She refuses and he gives her a new piece of evidence on the Hermit.
Valentine returns, Bernard leaves. Hannah confesses to Valentine that she believes
Septimus Hodge was the Hermit, but can’t prove it yet.
Scene 6--1809
Jellaby, Septimus, Lady Croom
Septimus enters the room after having slept in the boathouse in anticipation of the
morning’s duel. But Jellaby informs him that the Chaters, Captain Brice, and Byron have
all left Sidley Park after a night of devastating revelations. Lady Croom enters, furious
over a love letter Septimus has written her (which he left for her under the assumption
that he would be killed in a duel this morning). Jellaby brings Septimus a letter from
Byron, which he burns in an effort to impress Lady Croom. He explains that he loves
only her, and that his dalliance with Mrs. Chater was a result of his unfulfilled passion.
Lady Croom relents to allow him to visit her room later that evening.
Scene 7—Present day, 1812
Valentine, Chloe, Gus, Hannah, Thomasina, Augustus, Septimus, Lady Croom, Noakes,
Bernard
The nineteenth-century characters have aged three years—it is 1812. In the
present, Chloe and Valentine are reading newspaper reports of Bernard’s “discovery.”
They are dressed in Regency period clothing for the costume party. Gus is onstage going
through the costume box. Chloe suggests that the flaw in the Deterministic Universe is
not the complexity of the math involved, as Valentine says, but the unpredictability of
human attraction. Hannah enters with more of Bernard’s press. Chloe leaves with Gus to
construct his costume. Lord Augustus (1812) enters, chased by Thomasina. Septimus
enters for her lesson and sets the two to drawing. Valentine and Hannah talk about the
heat equation and he insists that Thomasina could not have understood the implications
of her work. Thomasina announces her intention to marry Lord Byron and Augustus
leaves. Septimus shows her a new essay by a French scientist which contradicts
Newton’s laws. Lady Croom enters and reveals that Ezra Chater died from a monkey
bite in the West Indies at the same moment that Hannah discovers the fact in a garden
book. Lady Croom expresses concern that Thomasina is not yet married. Noakes enters,
Lady Croom berates him, and Thomasina draws a diagram explaining the effect of heat
dispersal on his new steam engine. Lady Croom announces the end of Thomasina’s
lessons with Septimus, and exits with Noakes. Thomasina draws a picture of Septimus
and Plautus, and exits. Lord Augustus re-enters and asks Septimus to explain sex. As the
two exit, Bernard, Valentine, and Hannah enter, Hannah having shown Bernard the
garden book which contradicts his entire thesis. Chloe comes in to round up the group
for a photograph in costume. The present-day company exits and Septimus and
Thomasina enter. It is now evening, the night before Thomasina’s seventeenth birthday.
She kisses him, and claims her promised waltz lesson. Hannah and Valentine enter, and
Valentine and Septimus simultaneously examine the heat equation diagram that
Thomasina drew for Noakes. Septimus and Thomasina begin to dance. Gus appears and
gives Hannah Thomasina’s drawing of Septimus and Plautus. This is the piece she needs
to prove that Septimus was the Hermit. Hannah accepts Gus’s gift and his invitation to
dance. The two couples waltz as the lights go down.
Glossary of Key Terms
Arcadia
A region of ancient Greece in the central Peloponnesus.
Its inhabitants, somewhat isolated from the rest of the
world, proverbially lived a simple, pastoral life. Any
region offering rural simplicity and contentment. The term
Arcadia is used to refer to an imaginary and paradisal
place.
picturesque
A movement in English landscaping begun during the rise
of Romanticism in the late 18th century. It celebrated
wild nature, the past, and the exotic. Gardens like this are
characterized by gently sloping hills, sweeping lawns,
curving paths, and rivers and ponds with informally
planted trees and shrubbery. Often these gardens included
fake medieval ruins, Roman temples, and Chinese
pavilions and bridges. The picturesque is in contrast with
the “classical” geometry popular in landscaping after the
Enlightenment.
Fermat’s Last Theorem
This was a conjecture stating that the equation x^n+ y^n =
z^n, where x, y, and z are nonzero integers, has no
solutions when n is an integer greater than 2. In 1993
British mathematician Andrew Wiles of
Princeton University described a proof of the conjecture,
and his final proof was published in 1995.
Newtonian
Refers to Mechanics, the branch of physics concerned
with the motion of objects and their response to forces.
For normal phenomena Newton's laws of motion remain
the cornerstone of mechanics. However, Newton's laws
have been superseded by quantum mechanics and Albert
Einstein's theory of relativity.
Newton’s law of motion
Isaac Newton developed three laws of motion: (1) a body
at rest tends to remain at rest, or a body in motion tends to
remain in motion at a constant speed in a straight line,
unless acted on by an outside force; (2) the acceleration of
a mass by a force is directly proportional to the force and
inversely proportional to the mass; (3) for every action
there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Et in Arcadia ego
(Latin) Famously translated in multiple ways including “I
was once in Arcadia, too”, "Here am I in Arcadia, " or
"Even in Arcadia, there am I" (the "I" referring either to
the deceased or to Death). This is a quote found on a tomb
painted by Guercino in 1623. There is also a famous
painting by Nicholas Poussin (left) called "Shepherds in
Arcadia" showing a group standing around a shepherd's
tomb on which the words appear.
Caroline Lamb
Lady Caroline Lamb (1785-1828), Byron's mistress who
wrote Glenarron, Graham Hamilton and Ada Reis. She
was infatuated with Lord Byron and was notorious for her
nine-months devotion to him in 1812. After seeing
Byron's funeral procession she lost her mind.
Lord Byron
Byron, George Gordon Sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale
(1788-1824). The great British romantic poet who was
one of the leading figures of the romantic movement.
Among his famous works are Manfred, Childe Harold,
The Prisoner of Chillon, The Corsair, and Don Juan. His
heroes were lonely, rebellious, and brooding. The
handsome Byron was infamous for his unconventional
lifestyle and his many love affairs. One of his famous
loves was Lady Caroline Lamb, the wife of Viscount
Melbourne. He was born with a clubfoot and, after years
of wandering through Europe, died after while fighting for
Greek independence from the Turks.
Capability Brown
Launcelot Brown (1715-1783) was an English landscape
architect. He is best-known for laying out the gardens at
Blenheim and Kew.
Enlightenment
This refers to the Age of Reason or the Age of
Enlightenment -- the humanitarian, rationalist, liberal, and
scientific thought of the eighteenth-century in Europe
wherein the state was viewed as a rational instrument for
human progress. This was characterized by the scientific
approach taken to social and political issues and was
based upon the intellectual and scientific advances of the
seventeenth century championed by promoters of natural
law and universal order such as John Locke, Francis
Bacon, Rene Descartes and Spinoza. Enlightenment
thinkers included Rousseau, Voltaire, Jonathon Swift,
Hume, Kant, Montesquieu, and Lessing as well as
Americans such as Thomas Jefferson.
Romantic
Romanticism refers to the literary and artistic movements
of the late 18th and 19th century which were a revolt
against Classicism and philosophical. An outgrowth of the
egalitarian and libertarian principles of the French
Revolution, Romanticism champions a return to nature
and revels in individuality and the heroic. In Romanticism
humankind is innately good and the senses and emotions
are prized over reason and intellect. Nationalism as well
as the exotic and primitive are celebrated by Romantic
artists. Coleridge, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats
were all British romantic poets. Sir Walter Scott was
among the most noted romantic novelists. Among the
principle literary figures in France associated with this
movement were Dumas, Hugo, George Sand, and de
Musset. Goethe, Schiller and Heine led the German
romantic movement. Wagner, Mendelssohn, Schumann,
Liszt, Berlioz and Chopin are among the greatest romantic
composers of the period while the best-known painters
included Delacroix and Turner.
Childe Harold
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a poem written in 1812 by
Lord Byron narrating his European travels. Childe Harold,
was the first stormy, young auto-biographical Byronic
hero, shunning humanity and wandering through life
guilty of mysterious past sins.
English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers
When his early work, Hours of Idleness, was ridiculed by
the Edinburgh Review, Lord Byron answered with a
somewhat notorious satire entitled English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers in 1809.
iterated algorithm
An algorithm is a mathematical or other procedure in
which one element, the input, is used to produce another,
the output. (The word algorithm is named after the Arab
mathematician al-Khwarizmi.)
An iterated algorithm is a recursive computational
procedure in which the output from one step of a
computation is fed back into the computation again in the
next step as the input.
Relativity
The Theory of Relativity was introduced by Albert
Einstein in 1905. It challenges Newtonian Laws by
discarding the concept of absolute motion. Instead, it uses
as a frame of reference only relative motion between two
systems. Space and time unite to form a four-dimensional
continuum. The special theory states that the idea that the
laws of nature remain constant in different moving
systems also applies to the propagation of light. Therefore,
the speed of light remains constant for all observers
regardless of either the observer’s motion or of the source
of light. Although the Newtonian laws effectively explain
most physical phenomena, they are insufficient for
phenomena occurring at speeds approaching the speed of
light. According to the theory of relativity, the speed of
light is the maximum speed possible. Other aspects of the
theory indicate that mass and energy are equivalent and
convertible and that objects and time transform with
motion.
quantum
This refers to quantum theory or quantum mechanics, the
theories which drive modern physics. In Newtonian
physical theory physical properties are continuously
variable and energy travels in the form of waves.
Quantum theory is based on the supposition that energy
and other physical properties exist in tiny, discrete
particles. Max Planck, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr are
considered to be the fathers of quantum mechanics.
theory of everything
Physicists (beginning with Einstein) dream of a final
theory to explain all phenomena, in particular to unite
quantum theory (theory of the very small, i.e. atoms,
quarks, etc.) to relativity (theory of the very big, i.e.
galaxies, black holes, etc.).
The Second Law of
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that deals with
the relationships between heat and other forms of energy.
The first law of thermodynamics asserts the conservation
of energy. The second law of thermodynamics states that
entropy cannot decrease in a closed system for any
spontaneous process. Entropy refers to the amount of
disorder in a system. An example of this is that heat
cannot pass from a colder body to a warmer body, but
only from a warmer body to a colder body.
Regency
The period from 1811 to 1820 when King George III was
deemed unfit to rule, and his son George, Prince of Wales
(later George IV), was installed as a proxy. Also refers to
the style prevalent in England during the regency, and
which sometimes covers the period from 1800 to 1830.
The principle trend in furnishings and architecture was
neoclassical.
deterministic universe
The belief that every act, decision, moral choice and event
is the inevitable consequence of antecedents that are
independent of and preclude human will.
Gothic
A movement in art and literature during the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Gothic
novel is the most characteristic example of the
movement’s preoccupations. These mysteries and horror
tales often involved the supernatural and were set among
haunted castles and ruins. They often ended tragically,
and contained strong moral warnings and extreme
imagery. Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, the Bronte
sisters, and Mary Shelley were notable writers of this
genre.
Discussion Questions
1. What is “the attraction that Newton left out”? How do each
character’s love interests move the play forward? Whose
love is unrequited and whose is reciprocated?
2. Objects are very important in Arcadia. Track the use of a
particular object (an apple, a letter, a turtle, etc.) through the
scenes of the play. Who uses it? What functions does it
serve? What concepts does its use clarify?
3. Is Arcadia a tragedy?
4. What are the differences between Bernard’s research and
Hannah’s?
5. One of the play’s major conflicts is between rationality and
romanticism. Which side do you think Stoppard is on? What
does the play’s ending say about this argument?
6. Why did Septimus become the Sidley Park hermit? Why
does Hannah think he did?